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Seretse Khama was born in 1921 in Serowe, in what was then the Bechuanaland Protectorate. He was the son of Sekgoma Khama II and Queen Tebogo, the paramount chief of the Bamangwato people, and the grandson of Khama III, their king. The name "Seretse" means “the clay that binds",[2] and was given to him to celebrate the recent reconciliation of his father and grandfather; this reconciliation assured Seretse’s own ascension to the throne with his aged father’s death in 1925. At the age of 4, Seretse became kgosi (king), with his uncle Tshekedi Khama as his regent and guardian.

In June 1947, Khama met Ruth Williams, an English clerk at Lloyd's of London, and after a year of courtship, married her. The interracial marriage sparked a furore both by the apartheidUnion of South Africa and by the tribal elders of the Bamangwato. On being informed of the marriage, Khama's uncle Tshekedi Khama demanded his return to Bechuanaland and the annulment of the marriage. Khama did return to Serowe but after a series of kgotlas (public meetings), was re-affirmed by the elders in his role as the kgosi in 1949. Ruth Williams Khama, travelling with her new husband, proved similarly popular. Admitting defeat, Tshekedi Khama left Bechuanaland, while Khama returned to London to complete his studies.

However, the international ramifications of his marriage would not be so easily resolved. Having banned interracial marriage under the apartheid system, South Africa could not afford to have an interracial couple ruling just across their northern border. As Bechuanaland was then a British protectorate (not a colony), the South African government immediately exerted pressure to have Khama removed from his chieftainship. Britain’s Labour government, then heavily in debt from World War II, could not afford to lose cheap South African gold and uranium supplies. There was also a fear that South Africa might take more direct action against Bechuanaland, either economic sanctions or a military incursion.[3][4] The British government therefore launched a parliamentary enquiry into Khama’s fitness for the chieftainship. Though the investigation reported that he was in fact eminently fit to rule Bechuanaland, "but for his unfortunate marriage",[5] the government ordered that the report be suppressed (it would remain so for thirty years), and exiled Khama and his wife from Bechuanaland in 1951.

Various groups protested against the government decision, holding it up as evidence of British racism. In Britain itself, there was wide anger at the decision and calls for the resignation of Lord Salisbury, the minister responsible.[6] A deputation of six Bamangwato travelled to London to see the exiled Khama and Lord Salisbury, in an echo of the 1895 deputation of three Batswana kgosis to Queen Victoria, but with no success. However, when ordered by the British High Commission to replace Khama, the people refused to comply.

In 1956, both were allowed to return to Bechuanaland as private citizens, after he had renounced the tribal throne. Khama began an unsuccessful stint as a cattle rancher and became involved in local politics, being elected to the tribal council in 1957.

At the time of its independence in 1966, Botswana was the world's third-poorest country, even poorer than most other African countries.[7][8][9][10][11] Its infrastructure was minimal, with only 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) of paved roads, and its population was highly uneducated, with only 22 university graduates and 100 secondary school graduates.[12] Khama set out on a vigorous economic programme intended to transform it into an export-based economy, built around beef, copper and diamonds. The 1967 discovery of Orapa’s diamond deposits aided this programme.[7]

Khama instituted strong measures against corruption, the bane of so many other newly independent African nations. Unlike other countries in Africa, his administration adopted market-friendly policies to foster economic development. Khama promised low and stable taxes to mining companies, liberalized trade, and increased personal freedoms. He maintained low marginal income tax rates to deter tax evasion and corruption.[10] He upheld liberal democracy and non-racism in the midst of a region embroiled in civil war, racial enmity and corruption.[13] Khama embraced the rule of law.[11] The small public service was transformed into an efficient and relatively corruption-free bureaucracy with workers hired based on merit. Calls to immediately "indigenize" the bureaucracy were resisted, with foreign expatriates working in the bureaucracy retained until suitably qualified locals could be found to replace them, and with international advisers and consultants freely used. Mining companies were encouraged to search the country for more resources, leading to the discovery of additional copper, nickel, and coal deposits.[12]

Between 1966 and 1980 Botswana had the fastest growing economy in the world.[14] This growth was primarily driven by mining, and the government moved to secure itself greater revenue. The customs union between Botswana and South Africa was renegotiated in 1969, with the government of Botswana securing for itself a greater share of the mining revenue, and in 1975, once it became clear how productive these mines were, the government again renegotiated the diamond mining agreement to guarantee itself 50% of the revenues. By the mid-1970s, Botswana had a budget surplus.

Due to Khama's dedication to development, very little was spent on defense, and a small military police force was initially formed in place of an army.[16] However, following repeated incursions by South African and Rhodesian forces, the Botswana Defence Force was formed in 1977 as a small professional military.

On the foreign policy front, Khama was careful politically and did not allow militant groups to operate from within Botswana. According to Richard Dale,

The Khama government had authority to do so by virtue of the 1963 Prevention of Violence Abroad act, and a week after independence, Sir Seretse Khama announced before the National Assembly his government’s policy to insure that Botswana would not become a base of operations for attacking any neighbour.[17]

For a number of years leading up to his death, Khama's health deteriorated. He suffered from heart and kidney ailments. In 1960 he had been diagnosed with diabetes. In 1976, he underwent a heart operation to install a pacemaker in Johannesburg, and from then on, frequently flew to London for medical treatment. In June 1980, he flew to London, where doctors diagnosed him with terminal pancreatic cancer, and he was flown home after it was determined that no cure was possible.[19][20]

^Redfern, John (1955). "An appeal". Ruth and Seretse: "A Very Disreputable Transaction". London: Victor Gollancz. p. 221. The British government knew well enough, throughout the dispute, that the Union [of South Africa]'s Nationalist Government was playing up the theme of the protectorates, and that it was within the Union's power to apply economic sanctions at any time. (The latest available figures show that more than half the cattle exported from Bechuanaland go to the Union...)

^Rider, Clare (2003). "The "Unfortunate Marriage" of Seretse Khama". The Inner Temple Yearbook 2002/2003. Inner Temple. Archived from the original on 19 July 2006. Retrieved 6 August 2006. "Under the provisions of the South Africa Act of 1909, the Union laid claim to the neighbouring tribal territories and, as the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations pointed out to the Cabinet in 1949, the 'demand for this transfer might become more insistent if we disregard the Union government's views'. He went on, 'indeed, we cannot exclude the possibility of an armed incursion into the Bechuanaland Protectorate from the Union if Serestse were to be recognised forthwith, while feeling on the subject is inflamed'."

^Rider, Clare (2003). "The "Unfortunate Marriage" of Seretse Khama". The Inner Temple Yearbook 2002/2003. Inner Temple. Archived from the original on 19 July 2006. Retrieved 6 August 2006. "Since, in their opinion, friendly and co-operative relations with South Africa and Rhodesia were essential to the well-being of the Bamangwato Tribe and the whole of the Protectorate, Serestse, who enjoyed neither, could not be deemed fit to rule. They concluded: 'We have no hesitation in finding that, but for his unfortunate marriage, his prospects as Chief are as bright as those of any native in Africa with whom we have come into contact'."

^Redfern, John (1955). "The mean marquis". Ruth and Seretse: "A Very Disreputable Transaction". London: Victor Gollancz. p. 189. Some sections of the press attacked him, the Daily Express with especial force: ... "For the nation's good, Lord Salisbury's first deed as Commonwealth Relations Secretary should be his last."

Murdock Larsson, Clotye (1965). "Chapter 22 - An African Abdication - by Seretse Khama". Marriage across the Color Line. Johnson Pub. Co. pp. 173–182. ISBN978-0-87485-014-7. "If you bring this white woman, the tribe will scatter and you will be the Chief only of the bare poles in the market places." So spoke Bathoen, a sub-chief, who, like my uncle, Tshekedi, believed that I should forfeit my position as Chief-Designate rather than bring a white queen to our land.External link in |title= (help)